In 2018 the joint stamp series of the European countries is dedicated to the theme of bridges. Latvijas Pasts has released two new stamps in this series that depict the types of bridges popular with philatelists – railway bridges: Jugla Bridge and the Gauja River Bridge. The first day cancellation of the stamps is scheduled to take place in Riga post office No. 50 located in the shopping centre Origo, 2 Stacijas laukums, on Friday, the 20th of April 2018, from 8 AM to 7 PM.
The face value of the stamp Jugla Railway Bridge is € 0.78, corresponding to the cost of sending a regular Class A letter within the European Union – the print run of this stamp is 30,000 copies. Meanwhile the face value of the stamp The Gauja River Bridge is €1.49, which is suitable for sending a registered Class A letter within Latvia, and the print run of this stamp is 30,000 copies.
The release of the stamps is accompanied by the issue of a special cover with a print run of 1,000 copies. The Europa series stamps and the cover have been designed by the artist Ludis Danilāns.
Rail bridges are a popular stamp theme among philatelists, as it is interesting for a wide range of collectors, including philatelists who are interested in all types of bridges, those who collect stamps featuring infrastructure facilities and those who choose stamps with the railway theme or collect stamps depicting railway trains as a vehicle.
The originator of the Europa series stamps is PostEurop Association, and the stamps of this series with a single logo and a common theme for entire Europe have been issued since 1994. In previous years the themes of the Europa stamps were related to literature, natural attractions, travel, postal transport, old toys, eco-friendly lifestyle and castles.
